Sunday, 15 May 2011

Cheesecake balls on a stick

This week in birthday land it’s the turn of the CCB (Caked Crusader’s Brother).My choice of birthday cake for him was shaped by his incontrovertible “Two Food Truths”:

Cheesecake is the best cake

All food tastes better when eaten from a stick

My choice?Cheesecake on stick!Result?Happy brother!

I used my trusted no-bake cheesecake recipe and simply changed the order of doing things.I made the cheesecake topping and put it in a bowl to set, only making the biscuit base when I was ready to roll the cheesecake balls in it.

If the butter was added to the biscuits, as you’d normally do for a biscuit base, I feared that it would be difficult to get an even layer around the cheesecake.So I deconstructed the process – get me! – and melted the butter, dipped the cheesecake ball in it, then in the biscuit crumb.It was very easy and created the desired finish....although I admit they do look a bit like scotch eggs!

Some cheesecake balls skipped the biscuit crumb stage but were rolled in chopped nuts and finished off with some melted chocolate:

I also made some strawberry puree to dip the cheesecake balls into:

It was simply a matter of blending some strawberries, adding sugar to taste, and then sieving out the seeds.If it’s too runny, heat on the hob until it reduces by half.

The key to making cheesecake balls is to work quickly and keep the mixture cool.If at any point it becomes sticky or tricky to work with pop it all back in the fridge for 20 minutes.I’m not sure the stick element was a great success – the cheesecake was too soft to hold firmly to the lovely lolly sticks I’d purchased but I found that cocktail sticks worked; the remedy would’ve been to pop them in the freezer for 10-15 minutes but I hate freezing things unnecessarily (chalk it up as another item on the list of weird things I have strong feelings about).

Finally, a word of caution – when you roll the first heaped teaspoon spoon sized ball of cheesecake you will curse me.Your hands will get covered and you will suspect the whole venture will end in failure.However....once that first ball is out the way and you have a sheen of cheesecake on your hands, the subsequent balls are easy to roll.Just apply gently pressure and work quickly!

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About Me

So, the answer to the question you’re all asking: who am I? Well, a superhero never reveals their identity. I think it’s stated somewhere in the contract when you sign up for superhero-dom. Let’s just call me THE CAKED CRUSADER. By day (and night if I’m being honest) a mild-mannered City professional, but at weekends I become THE CAKED CRUSADER. Tirelessly fighting anti-cake propaganda and cake-related injustices – for SOMEONE, SOMEWHERE, ALWAYS NEEDS CAKE (we’ll just skip over the fact that it’s usually me).

Batman’s got the batmobile, batcave etc. Superman does just great what with being able to fly and being really strong. Spiderman’s got that web thing going on. But I have better than them. For I have a credit card and could get one of these:

The purpose of my blog is simple – to spread the word that CAKE IS GOOD.Yes, it is calorific; that is why it tastes so nice.Yes, too much of it is bad for you; that’s what ‘too much’ means.Yes, we’re all told to eat healthily and we know that we should. But ask yourself this – and look very deeply into your soul before answering – when has a cup of tea and a carrot ever cheered you up? However, put that carrot into a cake and happiness will ensue. Quod erat demonstrandum – CAKE IS GOOD.

This site will catalogue cakes I have unleashed unto the world and my thoughts thereon.

By the way, I will never recommend how many portions you should get out of a cake because we’re all different. Plus, it will be very embarrassing when I say it serves 4 and you get 20 portions out of it.

WARNING: Too much time spent on this blog may cause hunger.

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Cake Achievement in Film and Television Arts (CAFTA)

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If so, please let me know and that cake could win a coveted CAFTA award. Email me your suggestions, with a photo of the cake if possible.

About Me

I am a 40-something Chartered Accountant working in the square mile.
My main hobbies at the moment are baking, and setting the world record for the number of cake tins owned by one person.
I spend far too much time watching Spongebob Squarepants and would love to try a Krabby Patty...I know, I know - it's not real.